memeorandum: Against Populism, the Center Must Hold (Tony Blair/New York Times)

7:00 PM ET, March 4, 2017

Top Items:

Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says Obama Tapped His Phones — WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump on Saturday accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of having tapped his phones at Trump Tower the month before the election, calling Mr. Obama on Twitter a “bad (or sick) guy.”

Discussion: Axios, Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, ABC News, The Slot, The Hill, France 24, Daily Kos, Gizmodo, Western Journalism, Political Wire, TheBlaze, Politico, CBS Denver, BizPac Review and Eschaton

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of ‘Nixon/Watergate’ plot to wiretap Trump Tower — President Trump on Saturday angrily accused former president Barack Obama of orchestrating a “Nixon/Watergate” plot to tap the phones at his Trump Tower headquarters last fall in the run-up to the election.

John Hinderaker / Power Line:

The Associated Press Springs to Obama's Defense — After President Trump accused Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones during the election campaign, the Associated Press hurried into print a defense of the former president: … No one fits a lot of details into a tweet …

Discussion: Associated Press

Mallory Shelbourne / The Hill:

Graham: 'I'm very worried' about Trump's wiretapping accusation — (R-S.C.) on Saturday said he is “very worried” about President Trump's accusation that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. — “I'm very worried that our president is suggesting the former president has done something illegal …

Discussion: Townhall.com, ThinkProgress and The Week

Tim Hains / RealClearPolitics:

Mark Levin: Was Obama Using NSA Against Trump During 2016 Campaign? — Radio host Mark Levin spent most of his Thursday evening show discussing the alleged scandal surrounding Attorney General Jeff Sessions and what he says is the real scandal: A “silent coup” by the former Obama administration against President Trump.

Discussion: Power Line, The Last Refuge, BBC, Mediaite, RedState, Liberty Unyielding, Western Journalism, The Last Tradition, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, Doug Ross, The Gateway Pundit, IJR and Instapundit

Brooke Seipel / The Hill:
Top Obama adviser to Trump: ‘No president can order a wiretap’

Discussion: ThinkProgress, RedState, Raw Story, Politico, Politicus USA, CBS Philly, LifeZette, BizPac Review, Joe.My.God., CBS Dallas and Towleroad

CNN:
Trump falsely accuses Obama of wiretapping his phone

Discussion: The Hill, The Talking Dog, Hot Air, The Guardian, Raw Story, Infowars, The Gateway Pundit, NBC News, Western Journalism, WHNT-TV, twitchy.com, BizPac Review and Daily Wire

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:
Donald Trump was a conspiracy-theory candidate. Now he's on the edge of being a conspiracy-theory president.

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Magazine, The Guardian, CBS New York, Fox 59, Politicus USA, BizPac Review and Mediaite

Alicia Melville-Smith / BuzzFeed:
Trump Repeats Talk Radio Rumor That Obama Wiretapped Him During Election

Discussion: The Hill, The Moderate Voice, Raw Story, Mediaite, Common Dreams, Business Insider, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Politicus USA, Balloon Juice, twitchy.com and MARK-CM

Fox News:
Trump accuses Obama administration of wiretapping Trump Tower phones

John Hinderaker / Power Line:
Trump Goes Nuclear With Claim Obama Wiretapped Him During Election [Updated]

Discussion: Raw Story and Geller Report

David Shepardson / Reuters:
Trump claims Obama wiretapped him during campaign; Obama refutes it

Discussion: The Last Tradition, Joe.My.God. and AOL

Javier E. David / CNBC:
Trump accuses predecessor of ‘McCarthyism,’ wire-tapping during general election; Obama camp denies

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, CANNONFIRE, Fort Smith/Fayetteville News, Politico, The Last Refuge and The Gateway Pundit

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
A Special Prosecutor . . . For What?

Discussion: emptywheel and twitchy.com

Jonathan Karl / ABC News:

Trump flashes anger over Sessions recusal, Russia stories in tense Oval Office meeting — Before heading off to his so-called “winter White House” in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday, President Donald Trump summoned some of his senior staff to the Oval Office and went “ballistic,” senior White House sources told ABC News.

Discussion: Business Insider, New York Magazine and The Mahablog

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump fumes over Sessions' recusal from Russia probe — President Donald Trump, increasingly frustrated with his White House rollout, vented to top aides on Friday over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal from any investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Discussion: Mother Jones, Vox and Raw Story

Nancy Cook / Politico:

Trump expected to sign new executive order on travel ban on Monday — President Donald Trump is expected to sign on Monday a new executive order on his controversial travel ban at the Department of Homeland Security, according to senior government officials familiar with the matter.

Discussion: The Hill, Political Wire, Mediaite and Axios

Maggie Haberman / New York Times:
Sessions Controversy Heightens Trump's Feeling of Being Under Siege

Discussion: Axios

Adolfo Flores / BuzzFeed:

A 13-Year-Old Girl Sobbed While Recording Her Immigrant Father Get Arrested By ICE Agents — Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez was arrested this week while dropping off his daughter at a school in Los Angeles. — A sobbing 13-year-old girl recorded the arrest of her undocumented immigrant father …

Discussion: The Root

Jennifer Medina / New York Times:
Deportation Arrest Highlights Tensions in Los Angeles on Immigration

Discussion: Associated Press

Andrea Castillo / Los Angeles Times:
Immigrant arrested by ICE after dropping daughter off at school, sending shockwaves through neighborhood

Discussion: AOL, John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Washington Post and KTLA

The Seattle Times:

Sikh man in Kent says he was told ‘Go back to your own country’ before he was shot — Kent police are looking for a gunman who allegedly walked onto a man's driveway and shot him, saying “go back to your own country.”

Discussion: Washington Post, Raw Story and The Stranger …

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Donald Trump vs. the Food Snobs — Donald Trump's riches, rages and romance with Russia all demand scrutiny. They shape our fates. — His meals don't, so leave the man to his supper. Let him eat steak. — Let him order it as he wishes and slather it with whatever he pleases.

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

The Meaning of Murray at Middlebury — The shameful episode involving Charles Murray at Middlebury sends me back to several things. First, The Bell Curve itself, which virtually none of Murray's critics have bothered to read—certainly not the six-figure-salary hacks at the direct-mail …

Discussion: National Review and Washington Free Beacon

Wall Street Journal: The Mob at Middlebury — A mob tries to silence Charles Murray …

New York Times:

Trump Inherits a Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles — WASHINGTON — Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea's missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds.

Discussion: RedState, The Daily Caller, Mashable and Axios